Pipe Picks
- As far as Native American pipe tools, the pick was traditionally a pointed wooden
stick used to clean the pipe bowl and stir the herbs and grasses. After tobacco
was introduced, tampers were made to press the tobacco tightly in the bowl so
it would burn slower and stay lit.

Pipe
Tampers - There are a number of different pipe tools that can be used depending
on the smoking mixture. These include the pick and the tamper. A pick stirs up
the smoking mixture, giving it more air so it will burn more readily and quickly.
It can also be used to clean the pipe bowl. A tamper packs the smoking mixture
down so it burns more evenly and more slowly.

Alan
Monroe, Lakota artist began making catlinite tampers about 20 years ago. They
are made of solid sacred catlinite from Alan's own mine at Pipestone National
Monument in Pipestone Minnesota. The stone has been buffed and polished to a high
gloss with beeswax.